Malphas
Presumed God of Time, Crows, and Chaos. Encountered by Elias Underfoot, Kosa N'Var, Jiggy Allister (deceased), and Duir (deceased) at a shrine 42 miles northeast then 12 miles north of Haven. Malphas commands an endless hoard of "simulacrum crows", tiny stuffed crows with black pearl eyes, animated by magic. They act as his spies, and number in the thousands. The closer toward its shrine you travel, the more the sky blackens under their wings. The crow creatures can be controlled intelligently; when the party attempted peaceful communication with them, they led them toward Malphas's shrine. The crows also seem to possess a larval form; a couple of dead horses were found directly south of Haven invested with flesh-eating, Crow headed maggots. The shrine rests at the center of what appears to be a stone hut village of crow-men, capable of mimicry but lacking language. The eyes of these men are empty. It is likely that the entire village (save for the shrine) is a powerful illusion of Malphas's design; the inside of the crow-men's stone huts are all completely barren, and Malphas is capable of making the entire village and its inhabitants disappear at will. The shrine itself is a 7ft tall statue; it depicted a large snake standing upon a pedestal shaped like a pronged wheel. Balanced on its nose was a ring, shaped like the sun, that at the proper evening time aligned itself with the true sun's rays. When each party member offered gold to the shrine at this exact moment, the ring filled with a black ichor, dripped to the ground in the shape of Malphas's Seal, then formed into Malphas itself. When Malphas formed, the surrounding town vanished. Malphas speaks in cryptic riddles. It demanded the party answer strange questions such as "Would you trade Years for Centuries? Days for minutes? Seconds when there's no time left?". It took particular interest in Kosa N'Var's life goals, specifically his wish to build a home. Each adventurer's answer was rewarded with gifts and dire consequences. Duir was mutated into a Crow-man slave on the spot after failing to resist his control. What's left of the Half-Elf was last seen at Malphas's side. He is presumed lost forever. Elias had his mind expanded (increasing the number of spells he could learn by 1 per level) but was explicitly told he would die before the age of 43. Jiggy was given the dual chakrams, Kazdumundul. In exchange, he aged 30 years in seconds. Kosa was given the shortsword Thunderflow, and was forced to prove the strength of his conviction in combat with Malphas. Without the help of Jiggy and Elias, he would have surely perished under the Crow God's claws. Malphas was immune to non-magical weaponry; punches glided through him like smoke. Once satisfied with the party's strength, Malphas branded Kosa's right hand with his seal and departed. The implications of receiving the Mark of Malphas are as of yet unknown. Meeting Malphas significantly warped the personalities of all three survivors. Each adopted a Chaotic alignment. The above drawing, the only known image of Malphas, was sketched by Elias in the Anchored Plow. Category:Non-Player Characters Category:God